Argos back always looking for an opening
Cut by Als, Whitaker has bounced back as all-star, but Ticats will be tough test
Whenever the Argonauts’ Brandon Whitaker hits a wall, he remembers the motto of a good running back: just run to daylight.
That lesson has served him well throughout his football career, and he expects no different Sunday at 1 p.m. in the East Division semifinal against the Tiger-Cats in Hamilton.
The winner meets the Ottawa Redblacks in the East final Nov. 22 for a chance to go to the Grey Cup game in Winnipeg Nov. 29.
This past June, as a member of the Montreal Alouettes, injury concerns made Whitaker expendable, so the Als released him. He was bitter at first, but he knew how to seize an opportunity.
It was a lesson learned years earlier in college at Oklahoma, when he was asked to switch to receiver to make room for a highly touted running back prospect named Adrian Peterson, now a star in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings.
“He (Peterson) was a man among kids,” Whitaker said, looking back. “I wanted to play running back. So I was, ‘OK, I’ll go somewhere else.’ ”
Whitaker saw daylight in Waco, Texas, and switched to Baylor.
And when the Alouettes released him, Whitaker saw an opening in Toronto and jumped at the chance, signing on June 21 just after camp.
“It was a blessing in disguise,” said the 30-year-old native of Edmond, Okla.
Whitaker got off to an explosive start in the season opener with a season-high 117 rushing yards and finished the regular season as the fourth-leading rusher in the CFL with 636 yards and an additional 440 through the air for a team-leading total of 1,076 yards from scrimmage.
“I pride myself on being able to come out of the backfield and run routes,” Whitaker said Tuesday. “It’s something I worked on in the offseason.”
Whitaker was rewarded by being named to the East Division all-star team on Tuesday. It was his second all-star nod after he was named an East all-star and CFL all-star in 2011.
He joined three other Argos on the East team in defensive lineman Cleyon Laing, offensive lineman Greg Van Roten and linebacker Greg Jones.
Whitaker didn’t play in the final regular-season game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, as he was rested in favour of Chad Kackert and Curtis Steele.
November weather is usually cruel to a passing attack, and teams often need a dependable ground game, head coach Scott Milanovich said.
“The ability to grind out a game on the ground, if it’s wind issue or you happen to have a lead or if your quarterback is struggling, it seems the ground game becomes more important in the playoffs,” he said.
Toronto remains a pass-first of- fence, almost neglecting the run at times.
The Argos had the fewest rushing touchdowns (six) in the CFL this season. They were last in average rushing yards per game (76.9) and in running attempts, with an average of only 15.6 per game.
However, even in throwing situations, Whitaker’s value comes through as a pass protector.
That ability was perhaps best illustrated in Ottawa on Oct. 6 when his key block allowed quarterback Trevor Harris time to throw the gamewinning touchdown to Chad Owens with less than 30 seconds left in the game.
Hamilton’s defence, of course, will have something to say about how much ground Whitaker eats up Sunday. The Tiger-Cats have the thirdbest defence in the CFL, behind only top-ranked Edmonton and No. 2 Calgary.